This paper presents a three-week thematic unit on weather designed for a second grade general education classroom. The unit integrates science and literacy by combining shared reading, self-selected reading, and structured writing activities across five stages of the writing process. Students maintain weather journals, create graphic organizers, write fanciful weather stories, and complete a multigenre art-and-writing project using the Picturing Writing approach. The unit addresses Pennsylvania literacy and science standards and incorporates both formative self-assessment tools, such as K-W-L charts and reading logs, and summative assessments through open-ended writing and multigenre projects. A suggested classroom library of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry titles is included.
This thematic unit on weather is designed for a general education classroom at the second grade level. The suggested time frame is three weeks, but the unit can be shortened slightly or extended by adjusting the number of activities. Thematic units like this one integrate multiple subject areas around a central topic, allowing students to build deep conceptual understanding while meeting standards across disciplines.
Reading activities include shared reading and self-selected reading from a variety of books provided by the teacher. The book selection should include multiple genres and multiple reading levels. Writing activities engage students in the five stages of the writing process. Students will create a weather journal that includes their writing and a reading log. Students may also include notes about weather observations.
Instructional Focus: Grade 2 — Science: Weather
1.2 — Reading Informational Text: Students read, understand, and respond to informational text, with emphasis on comprehension, making connections among ideas and between texts with a focus on textual evidence.
1.3 — Reading Literature: Students read and respond to works of literature, with emphasis on comprehension, making connections among ideas and between texts with a focus on textual evidence.
1.4 — Writing: Students write for different purposes and audiences. Students write clear and focused text to convey a well-defined perspective and appropriate content.
1.5 — Speaking and Listening: Students present appropriately in formal speaking situations, listen critically, and respond intelligently as individuals or in group discussions.
3.1.4.C.1. Identify observable patterns (e.g., growth patterns in plants, crystal shapes in minerals, climate, structural patterns in bird feathers).
3.1.4.C.2. Use knowledge of natural patterns to predict next occurrences (e.g., seasons, leaf patterns, lunar phases).
3.1.4.E.2. Examine and explain change by using time and measurement.
3.2.4.B.2. Use observations to develop a descriptive vocabulary.
3.2.4.C.2. Design an investigation.
3.5.4.C.1. Identify cloud types.
3.5.4.C.2. Identify weather patterns from data charts (including temperature, wind direction and speed, and precipitation) and graphs of the data.
3.5.4.C.3. Explain how the different seasons affect plants, animals, food availability, and daily human life.
The teacher activates students' prior knowledge in a discussion of weather before reading Curious George: Rain or Shine. The class creates a K-W-L chart on the extra chalkboard in the classroom. The chart, which shows what students know, what they want to know, and what they have learned, remains visible for the duration of the unit. The class can add to the chart when they have new questions and when they learn new information. Students are encouraged to refer to it frequently to see how their body of knowledge has grown. Students may also create their own K-W-L charts in their personal weather journals.
The teacher selects weather-related books from the school library and/or public library appropriate for the range of reading levels in the classroom. Students will have access to this content-specific library and enjoy self-selected reading. Some titles will be reserved for read-alouds and added to the classroom collection for circulation afterwards.
Students will maintain a reading log of the weather books they have read. At the beginning of the unit, they will spend a class period decorating the covers of their weather journals. Students will be encouraged to write at least three sentences describing each book. They should also include a sentence stating whether or not they liked the book and explaining why. At the end of the unit, students can share orally with the whole class about their favorite book.
Students create a graphic organizer after hearing a reading of What Will the Weather Be? If students do not have prior experience using graphic organizers, the lesson should include direct instruction and guided practice. The teacher may want to create a graphic organizer as a whole-class project to clarify understanding before students create individual organizers.
Students prepare weather reports based on what they have learned during the unit. They have the option to present their weather reports orally to the class or in written form. Students may include drawings or photos showing cloud types, weather events (e.g., thunderstorm, hurricane), and maps.
Students will formulate an idea after hearing a read-aloud of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Following the reading to the whole class, students will discuss the book's main idea as a group.
Students will create their own fanciful weather stories. At this stage, students are encouraged to put their ideas on paper without worrying about spelling or mechanics.
Working with a partner, students will revise their writing to make it clearer. Students will have had instruction and practice in an earlier unit on how to be a good "writing buddy." Each student should be encouraged to make at least one positive comment about the writing and one helpful comment for improvement. Students can also be taught to ask constructive questions such as "Can you give more details about this?" or "Can you use a describing word here?"
In a conference with the teacher, students will check for mistakes in their work and make corrections. The teacher may have the student rewrite the story on "good" paper, or the edited version could be typed directly onto a computer or device in preparation for publishing.
Students will share their writing by creating their own books. The teacher can type — or have children type — the text; the children will then illustrate their work. Students can be invited to read their books aloud to the class. If everyone wants to share, it may be more time-efficient to have students share with reading buddies (perhaps at another grade level) or in small groups. Students might also read their books to family members at an Authors' Tea or Open House.
"Art-based literacy project using crayon resist technique"
"Self-assessment tools and summative project measures"
"Annotated list of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry titles"
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